Theresa May Vows Corporate Crackdown on “Privileged Few”

Mrs May’s plans include moves to make big business more accountable by having both consumers and workers represented on company boards. The move will also affect UK-registered companies listed abroad as well as those on the main FTSE market. Non-executive directors, who are meant to hold executives to account, are “drawn from the same, narrow social and professional circles as the executive team”, she will say. She is also expected to announce that annual shareholder votes on corporate pay should be binding rather than advisory. The proposal follows a wave of shareholder protests against high pay this year at companies including BP, Anglo American and Shire. The May proposals would go further than the changes introduced by Vince Cable, former Lib Dem business secretary, who forced companies to hold legally binding votes on future pay policies every three years — on top of the usual non-binding vote on retrospective pay packages.